Have had great success with everything I have made so far with one small exception. Mushroom tibs were great, as were the split peas with mild spice. I made the gomen recipe with beet greens instead of collards and it turned out pretty well. My injera fakeouts though, were almost a disaster and it was probably my fault. Perhaps my kitchen is too cold and they did not ferment well enough. The batter seemed really thick to me, so I thinned it with some water. The first injera I made had very few bubbles. Desperate not to just throw out the whole batch, I added a teaspoon of baking soda. Voila! Lots of bubbles, but the tradeoff, of course was very little sour flavor. Still very yummy, though. I hope to have more success when the weather is warmer or I'll have to devise a special fermenting spot for my fakeouts!

I'm cooking my first two recipes from this. The mild split peas are excellent. The mixed vegetables in spicy gravy are still cooking, but they smell really good. I'm making the injera from Vegan Lunch Box to go with it -- I don't need to be gluten-free, and the injera in this cookbook required a bunch of ingredients that I'd have to buy just for that recipe. The Vegan Lunch Box one is kind of a cheating recipe, with active dry yeast added so that you only need to let it sit for a few hours, but I figure I'm working my way up to real injera.

I've been bringing leftovers for lunch for the past few days, and it's been great. Not quite as good as having the injera with all the sauces absorbed to eat at the end of the meal, but still very good. (My office doesn't have a microwave that I can easily get to. I've been bringing the food in a Ms. Bento -- split peas in the bottom container, mixed veggies in the middle one, and for the injera, I roll it up, cut it into little spirals about an inch and a half across, and put them in the top container.)

Yay! Book arrived today, thanks Kittee! Now I have no idea what to make first, everything sounds so good. I have tomorrow off, so in between cleaning out closets and rearranging cupboards (I feel the need to start early for spring cleaning for some reason) I will probably make the niter kibbeh and berbere, since I have all of the ingredients. Then I'll try and make a few things this weekend. Just looking at the recipes I'm surprised at how many ingredients I have on hand.

One question, do the injera last a while, or should they be eaten same day they're made?

One question, do the injera last a while, or should they be eaten same day they're made?

I think all injera is best at room temperature, but they tend to get moldy after a few days out. I usually refrigerate well wrapped injera and then bring it to room temperature or nuke it a little before eating...

Post pics of whatever you make! (Please).xokittee

_________________Cake Maker to the Starspakupaku"Stupid society. I'm gonna go put on bikini kill."~Susie Tofu Monster"Kittee is wise. Listen to Kittee."~Aruna--> the PPKr currently known as mumbaikar

Oscar night spread. I don't have a large pan so I used my largest cast iron for the injera. Maybe a little hot for the first few, but when I figured out the batter worked out pretty well, I think. Yesterday I didn't think the batter was working, my house is pretty cold, but this morning it was a bubblin'!

With ye'takelt allecha, ye'miser w'et, ingudai t'ibs, and a selata, that wouldn't fit on the plate! Super yummy, made so much, even though I halved all of the recipes. Next time I'll add more liquid to the lentils, they got a little too thick, I think. And I need to get the timing down right. The t'ibs finished way before everything else, I should have started the lentils first, but got distracted.